Two recent studies found physicians are less likely to die in the hospital and are more likely to obtain hospice care, as opposed to non-physician patients, acceding to Medscape.
In one study, Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital researchers evaluated whether physicians receive higher- or lower-intensity end-of-life treatments compared with non-physicians. The researchers analyzed end-of-life resource use among Medicare beneficiaries across four states who died between 2004 and 2011. Investigators compared the outcomes among physicians (2,396), lawyers (2,081) and the general population (665,579).
Here are the study's findings:
1. Only 29 percent of physicians were found to have died in the hospitals, as opposed to the general population (32 percent).
2. Physicians were also less likely to have surgery than the general population (25.1 percent versus 32 percent).
3. The results found physicians were less likely to be admitted to the intensive care compared to the general population (25.8 percent versus 27.6 percent).
4. When compared to lawyers, physicians were also less likely to die in a hospital (27.9 percent versus 32.7 percent).
5. Investigators did not find a difference in the measures of care between physicians and lawyers.
In the second study, New York University School of Medicine in New York City researchers analyzed records of approximately 500,000 individuals who died from 1979 to 2011, based on data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Investigators compared the location of death for physicians (815) with that of other clinicians (2,635), other professionals (15,308) with similar education levels and the general population (452,485).
Here are the second study's findings:
1. Of the total patient population, 40.3 percent died in an inpatient hospital and 72.1 percent died in any facility.
2. Nearly 40 percent of patients from the general population died in a hospital, compared to 38.3 percent of physicians.
3. Non-physician patients were found to be more likely to die in any facility (72.4 percent).
4. Compared to physicians, other healthcare professionals and highly educated patients were more likely to die in any facility when compared with physicians.
5. Researchers did not find a significant difference between these groups and physicians in terms of likelihood of an in-hospital death.
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